


The Road Is Bumpy

by cowboysrgay



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Demon Hanzo Shimada, Eventual Happy Ending, Hunter Jesse McCree, Implied mental illness, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Slow Burn, lowkey based on halloween skins, mlm writing mlm content, more chapters soon I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-02-08 06:58:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12859239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cowboysrgay/pseuds/cowboysrgay
Summary: Hanzo Shimada has been on the run for years until one fateful day when he's saved by a new man who's about to change his world.(Permanently Discontinued)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Emmersoni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmersoni/gifts).



> Happy (slightly) early birthday to my friend Emmerson! I hope you like this man! This is a multiple chaptered story so expect more in the future. (Also ripperoni I don't know how to indent)

The hood of Hanzo’s coat concealed his face as he walked into the new town. He was going to have to sleep on the street again. Even though Hanzo was an Oni—a demon born of a person who had done horrible things in their past—he did no harm to those who mean no harm to him, unlike many other Oni. They often tormented towns and ate people. Even if Hanzo had a choice to do that, he wouldn’t. He was being tracked by many demon hunters as his case was famous and held a high bounty, the Shimada Family pays well to cover their tracks.  
Speaking of, he knew he was being followed so his stop in the town would be even more brief. He sped walk into the nearest small supply shop and stocked on basic necessities such as toothpaste and deodorant. He may be on the run but he wasn’t a complete heathen. This was well over his fiftieth year on the run and he was still considered a black stain in the Shimada lineage.  
After the quick exchange in the shop he could feel eyes from all around on him, so he quickly left the town feeling them closing in on all sides. Hanzo only made it to the outskirts of the town before he was surrounded. Even with his power he wouldn’t be able to handle them all, and that’s if he actually tried. There was no point in escaping either, as any and all escape routes had been blocked by the figures. Over fifty years he had evaded their assassination, fifty years and he gave his freedom up for toothpaste. At this point he was just nearly about to giving up.  
A woman near the middle of the group pushed others aside, asserting herself as the leader, she drew her gun and stepped towards him. “Shimada, Hanzo,” she spat, face hard and unmoving. “Finally it is time to snuff out the last ugly stain on our name.”  
Hanzo frown deeply, brows furrowing. “I am not the only stain on the family name. It has been stained dark over the years, but I was the only one who everybody sees.” What he said clearly angered her and she shoved the end of the gun against Hanzo’s neck. Out of a lack of caring and just being tired, Hanzo’s normal view of a disguise started to slip, his more inhuman features showing. The features he hated, as they reminded him of the horrible act he had committed years ago.  
Some of the people in the group looked frightened but most didn’t even flinch. “If you’re going to do it, then do it. I knew this fate was inevitable, why delay it?” Hanzo sighed almost nonchalantly. That definitely caught the leader and everyone else off guard. They clearly thought he would put up a fight.  
He heard the gun click, ready to fire any moment. Hanzo closed his eyes and sighed gently, just hoping it would be over quick. “What’re you all doing to this fine man,” said a voice with a thick southern drawl. Hanzo’s eyes snapped open and he saw a man, who looked oddly like an old time-y cowboy sauntering up to them. He was surprised to hear the fact that the cowboy had called him a man as his looks were far from one, he resembled more of a monster.  
“I suggest getting out of the way,” The woman sneered angrily at the man with the Southern drawl. It made Hanzo’s guts twist into knots. If she even as much as lay a finger on this bystander he would fight back. He didn’t care about himself but he didn’t want the man to get harmed just because he decided to intervene. The man’s kind looking expression hardened.  
“You do not want to get involved with this matter, sir,” Hanzo said, looking to the man who’s hand rested on the handle of his gun. “I am not worth your mercy,” The fact that the man persisted even after seeing he was not human confused Hanzo, and he tried to get the man to stop.  
The man still drew his gun firing quickly and with deadly accuracy, incapacitating most of the bounty hunters but not outright killing them. The gun he owned was a six round shooter which he loaded faster than most eyes could track, taking out the rest of them, except for the ringleader of the bounty hunters. Who stood there stunned, in disbelief of the man’s ability. “W-Who are you?” She barely whispered.  
The man chuckled, his deep voice resonating across the area. “Like I would tell you,” He said flatly, shooting her point blank, without the mercy he showed the others. “That’s for bein’ rude.”  
The man’s attention turned right to Hanzo. “You alright?” Hanzo managed a nod, getting up and brushing himself off. His more human state returned, he preferred it greatly to his beast-like form.  
“That was not my first run in with people like that,” Hanzo said, glancing at the man, slightly embarrassed and awkward as he had let the man see his weakness. He slowly walked over to the man, just so he could get a better look before leaving.  
“I can tell. You seem like you can handle yourself, but you sure you’re alright?” Hanzo flinched internally at the man’s words. He had been raised to show no weakness and this only made his embarrassment grow along with his awkwardness.  
“Yes,” He said after a short delay, clearly showing he wasn’t. The man raised an eyebrow that without speaking he implied, ‘Really?’. Hanzo suppressed a glare at his rescuer, the man sounded legitimately concerned and didn’t deserve to be treated harshly. “Before I go, I must ask, who are you?”  
“Jesse McCree at your service,” He said with a soft smile and a tip of his hat. The name was so familiar but Hanzo just couldn’t place where he had heard it from. Up until now he had hesitated from looking into the man’s eyes, and his gaze was met with gentle brown eyes.  
“You know what I am, why save me?” Hanzo couldn't help himself from asking another question. This man was kind to him. Way too kind to him for what he was.  
“Not everyone has a choice in what they turn into,” Jesse said simply, his eyes looking at Hanzo’s face for any reaction. Hanzo just gave a slight nod.  
“I can not repay you with how thankful I am, but I must get on my way it will only be a matter of time before someone else finds me,” Hanzo said, accidentally letting his sheer tiredness of the related events seep into his speech.  
Hanzo could practically see the spark turn on in Jesse’s head and his concerned face morphed into one of excitement. “I know you don’t know me but I’m helpful and won’t kill ya’ in your sleep,” Hanzo was honestly shocked at the Jesse’s offer as they barely knew each other. Jesse seemed like a kind and honest man but he wasn’t sure why he was so excited on traveling with a stranger who a) wasn’t even human and b) probably very dangerous.  
“I won’t object, as I will not make you stay away, but I am plagued by misfortune and danger and I do not wish that upon you. If you chose to come with me I can not promise your safety, Jesse McCree,” As Hanzo thought of it more, Jesse was a competent man who could take care of himself and would be a good travelling partner. He wouldn’t actually mind someone being there to make his constant relocation less lonely.  
It took Jesse only a few moments before deciding. “I’m a traveller myself so I don’t see why it would hurt if I were to hit the road with you,” His smile never faded while he spoke.  
“We must get going then, it will only take a matter of time until more assassins come,” Hanzo said, recollecting his stuff, including the damned toothpaste.  
And that’s the origins how of Jesse joined Hanzo in his ceaseless travelling from one place to another. But unlike many love stories, their road ahead was never meant to be smooth.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh I'm sorry this chapter took longer than expected because of the holiday season but here it is! (Again, I am forever frustrated with this site and how to indent.)

Only a few minutes into their journey together both Hanzo and Jesse had more mutual respect for each other. Jesse had struck up a conversation with Hanzo right away as they started down the open road to loosen the tension between.  
“Ya’ don’t have to share about yourself but I find it easier to talk if someone starts first. Earlier you asked why I helped you even though I knew what you were, and at the time I gave a short answer. The reason I helped you is because, well — I don’t think that anyone who is not human is instantly a horrible person, hell, humans are probably the most evil things I’ve met, and I’ve come face to face with a literal spawn of Satan. I’m a monster hunter, but I only go after the ones who harm others. My adoptive father, he was a wraith and was the kindest man you’d ever meet. He was the one who sent me down this path, but with a sense of mind not to kill all on sight. God do I miss him,” Jesse said, his recollection making him trail off, as he was thinking of his father.   
“I… I am not as worthy of saving as your father. I did something terrible, grotesque, and unredeemable. I would prefer not to divulge what happened but… if learning this makes you want to leave or kill me, I understand,” Hanzo said stopping in his tracks. Jesse stopped so he and Hanzo looked face to face.   
“Hanzo, have you killed an innocent person since?” Jesse asked him, tone benevolent.   
“No but how—”   
“Then I have no reason to harm you. You are one of the few demons I’ve met that regretted their decision and chose not to harm others. That in itself shows you are a decent being,” Jesse reassured him, tone showing he clearly wasn’t going to take any self-deprecating crap.   
“How do you know my name?” Hanzo asked. He could have sworn Jesse was nowhere near when the woman had said his name.   
“I was there when they surrounded you. I just hadn’t decided if it was the right time to step in,” Jesse adjusted his hat and kept walking more quickly than expected, so Hanzo jogged a little to keep up.   
Hanzo was unsure of what to say. Never had he met someone who was actually kind to a beast like him. The entirety of monster hunters he had met up until this point had a very narrow views on how to act when they encounter a monster. He had multiple healed bullet scars to prove it, they left some nasty looking scars.  
Jesse intrigued Hanzo, and he couldn’t place why. Never in his deathless afterlife had he ever met someone who drew his attention so quickly and intently. It was confusing and completely alien to him.   
It wasn’t long until they were in the next town, and it was already getting dark. Although it would be great to travel at night, it wasn’t a wise decision because Jesse couldn’t see, he was also starting to slow down as he was human and had physical limits. “We should stop for the night, you look a worse for wear,” Hanzo said, pulling a worn wallet out of his pocket and handed it to Jesse. “Here, get yourself a room and some food, I will find something to do while you rest.”   
Jesse immediately tried to hand Hanzo his wallet back. “That’s really not necessary, you don’t need to pay for me,” Hanzo’s response was just to place the wallet more tight into Jesse’s hand, making him firmly grasp it.  
“You are travelling with me, it’s the least I can do. Stay safe,” Hanzo said before he walked down the street, scoping out the town. He found a nice, tall, and considerably old chapel and scaled its wall, stopping when he reached the bell tower. He had a whole view of the town and was able to see Jesse walk towards a small, and grimy looking hotel. He frowned, he had way more than enough money in the wallet for Jesse to have a decent hotel to stay in for the night. Jesse probably felt bad spending Hanzo’s money, which he admittedly earned from taking up a few odd jobs on his journey and, ashamedly, hits on people as they paid well.   
He put his bag down safely inside the tower, and then sat on the edge of the open window. It was chilly but he kept his timeworn coat that still somehow kept him tepid. Now that Hanzo was alone and could actually process what happened that day. If you had told Hanzo two weeks ago that he would be travelling with someone, a handsome man to be more accurate, he wouldn’t have believed you. Hanzo froze, suddenly aware of what he’d just admitted to himself. He had barely met Jesse, the charming, caring cowboy, and was already starting to fall for him. Hanzo shook his head, he couldn’t let himself do that. He swung his legs over the ledge and sat next to the bell, ready for the chilly air to kiss him goodnight.   
Hanzo awoke before dawn; old habits die hard. He gathered his stuff and quickly scaled down the church so no one could witness him climb down from the old building. No one was up, so he might as well freshen up, and thankfully the church had an unlocked the chapel door and, most importantly, the bathroom. He found out it was open by stumbling around the outside of the church door because of ice, causing him to fall into the door, and fall onto his ass into the church. Only a lonely parishioner witnessed his fall, and they stifled a laugh before quickly looking away. That hurt his pride a bit but he quickly spruced himself up and got on his way to meet Jesse. If his assumptions about the man were correct he would also be up early.   
It turns out he was right, Jesse was standing outside trying to light up a cigar hanging out of the corner of his mouth. His lighter was beat up, and clearly not going to work as it was holding onto the last strands of its life. Hanzo pulled out his own battered lighter and offered it to Jesse. “You aren’t the only one with a bad habit,” He said as Jesse accepted it and used it to light his cigar.   
“Good to know someone who ain’t no virgin mary but also no devil’s advocate either,” Jesse said after taking a draw from his cigar. Hanzo smiled grimly, leaning against the wall so he was side by side with Jesse.   
“You sound like you’ve seen too many of the latter,” Hanzo turned his head to look at Jesse. His comment earn a light chuckle but it was hollow in spirit. Hanzo had hit it right on the mark.   
“Unfortunately, but the world’s filled with sinners and they’re aren’t enough saints. At least that’s what my Pop would say, he was a Catholic man, set in stone of right an’ wrong. But after I met my adoptive dad after Pop ate it, I found out the world’s more gray. You know this is nice, I haven’t had a decent conversation with anyone in weeks…. oh I’m sorry I’m rambling.”Jesse concluded with a very quiet, nervous chuckle. Hanzo tentatively reached out and put a hand on Jesse’s shoulder.   
“It’s okay Jesse, I’ve talked more to you than anyone I’ve met in the past few years. I understand,” Hanzo said, opening up really for the first time to Jesse, still unsure if it was a good idea. Jesse looked at him, clearly relieved that he wasn’t totally alone in his lack of constant contact. “We should get going, I have a bad feeling about waiting to leave,” And with that, the man and the demon went on their way, unknowingly about to walk into a mess.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long, it was delayed at the beginning because of a family health crisis and then a musical production I was apart of but (hopefully) as the school year gets closer to its end I'll update more. And again, I apologize about the indentation.

A chimera. A fucking chimera. Hanzo was currently being pinned down, unable to move while Jesse was out immobile, slowly being incapacitated by the snake’s poison. As he held the chimera’s great head away from his neck, he finally let into the impulse and let his human form fade away, letting his more terrifying demon state show. His clothes ripped at the seams as they were stretched too far as his body morphed from man to monster. He threw off the chimera like a ragdoll, but got bitten by the main lion head, puncturing his left arm in the process.  
He let out a loud curse, standing to his full height to face the beast. The chimera no longer looked quite as confident after seeing how big its opponent had become. It let out a roar and charged at Hanzo and he hit the beast to the side. Thankfully the last blow seemed to cement the chimera’s fear and it ran away whimpering. After it slunk away Hanzo rushed over to the currently unconscious Jesse. He quickly shifted back, examining the snake bite on Jesse’s shoulder. It wasn’t bleeding anymore but the skin around was clearly going through the early stages of necrosis as the poison spread. Jesse had fallen unconscious, sweating profusely as his body temperature raised to fight the poison. Hanzo knew he would have to hurry, as the poison was spreading fast. He reached into his discarded bag and pulled out an old leather bag of dried herbs and quickly put them in Jesse’s mouth, somehow getting him to swallow without choking. He had been given the herb when he saved a wandering monk, who had given him the item in return, telling him if he was ever fatally injured to eat it and he would be healed enough so he could travel to the monastery he came from. He doubted the kind monk would have lied to him and in this moment he was praying what the monk said was true.   
Hanzo finally calmed when he saw the wound heal almost miraculously in front of his eyes, Jesse’s eyes fluttering open.   
“Ya’ saved me, my hero,” Jesse joked lightly, slowly sitting up. The smiles on his face made Hanzo’s heart skip a beat and his face uncontrollably turned a light pink. He looked away.  
“I owe you, it was really nothing,” Hanzo mumbled, holding out a hand to help Jesse up. He averted his eyes as he forced his blush down. Hanzo knew he was already royally screwed, he was falling hard and fast for the sweet man in front of him. Jesse took his offered hand and groaned lightly as he got up.   
“We should rest, your arm’s hurt,” Jesse said softly, seeing clearly the bite left from the chimera.   
“We really don’t-” Hanzo stopped protesting as Jesse was already digging through his bag, and pulled out a bottle of gin and some bandages. His posture slumped slightly as Jesse ripped off the rest of Hanzo’s tattered sleeve. Jesse opened the half-empty gin bottle, pouring some of its contents onto the ripped sleeve in hand before gently using it to sterilize the wound. Hanzo instinctive let out a hiss of pain, face twitching at the sting. It only took a few moments as Jesse wrapped his arm in no time, ready to go on their way as soon as possible. Being out in the open during the day was bad, and they really needed to make it to the next town before nightfall.   
“I’ll redress it when we get to Norbury, I need to stock up on supplies anyways when we get there,” Jesse said throwing his small bag over his shoulder. The two of them went on their way, Hanzo holding his injured arm close to his body, hair falling out of the normally tight ponytail.   
It didn’t take long before they reached the small town, and they purchased a motel room--a double bed--before Jesse went shopping, so once Jesse left Hanzo flopped onto his bed and let out a loud sigh. He was feeling truly exhausted, even though his demonic body didn’t need it, he liked sleeping.. He closed his eyes and let his body just go through the old habit, finally feeling safe enough to leave himself that vulnerable.   
Hanzo was still asleep when Jesse returned, so he let him rest for a little longer taking the time to take in the events that happened in the past two days. He saved a strange man, who ended up not being a man at all, and was now travelling with him, despite that many other hunters would slaughter Hanzo without a second thought. Hanzo had saved him earlier today, for no other reason than a ‘debt’ which Jesse could tell was a fake excuse. Before Jesse got too wrapped up in his questioning he decided to wake Hanzo to redress his arm, and for his own personal agenda, he could no longer be alone with his thoughts. He got up and walked over to the sleeping Oni, gently putting his metal hand on Hanzo’s uninjured arm. He knew a reaction was bound to happen and he’s rather have his metal arm broken that is easily repaired than a broken arm for at least a month.   
Hanzo’s hand snapped up instinctively, grabbing Jesse’s metal arm but let go when his eyes locked onto Jesse. “My apologies,” Hanzo murmured, sitting up.   
“It’s all fine, probably would’ve reacted the same way,” Jesse said, getting out the medical supplies he bought. “We really should redress your bite though.”   
Hanzo shook his head. “I heal fast, there is no need to waste good supplies on me, I have a feeling they’ll be more useful in the future. Both of us attract unwanted attention from the worst people, it seems,” He let out a quiet, stressed laughed. The only type of humor he was honestly good at was puns, and he had been told that he was even bad at that.   
Jesse seemed skeptical, but let it go, putting the supplies into his bag. “Well, I should still check the wound,” He still seemed concerned so Hanzo decided to let him check. The bite wound had healed, leaving only a light scar on Hanzo’s tan skin.  
“Jesse, you should get some rest, I know you need it, your eyes are already drooping,” Hanzo said, putting his hand on Jesse’s shoulder. Jesse nodded and didn’t even bother getting out of his clothes, he just laid down and was out within seconds.   
Hanzo took his place in a chair at the motel’s dinky little table, closing his eyes to meditate until the night was over. In the morning, they would travel to the monastery.


End file.
